(Two months later…)
Splat…
The sickening sound echoed in the oppressive silence of the dimly lit chamber. A body, heavy and lifeless, crumpled to the ground, a dark stain blooming rapidly on the grey flagstones, more blood splattering against the cold, damp wall, dripping in thick, straight trails.
Elias laid motionless, his neck slit open and his blood flowed like a river on the floor.
Suzy stood trembling, not from cold, but from a terror mixed with a horrifying sense of a deed done. Her belly, round and prominent beneath her stained nightgown – it had been two months since the kidnapping, two months of healing and the undeniable growth of the new life within her – felt heavy, a vulnerable burden.
In her hand, impossibly, she gripped Ryan's sword, its polished steel dark and slick, dripping with Elias's blood. Her own face was splashed with crimson, warm and sticky. She looked ahead, her eyes wide with horror, at the figure standing a few feet away.
Byron.
